Semantics
by UntoldStories113
Summary: Terry was not sure how to feel about Sulley right now. Sure, he had gone after Mike and essentially saved his life. But then, Mike's life would not have NEEDED saving if it had not been for what Sulley had done. (Monsters University spoilers)


**Timeline note:** Set in between the climax at the door lab and the last scene in the Squibbles' home's living room.

**Rating:** T – again, for an offhanded mention of a really dark concept.

* * *

"Shouldn't they have called by now?"

Terry resisted the urge to roll his eye at hearing the same question for the umpteenth time. He turned his head to look at Squishy walking behind them on the path leading away from the front gate, and was about to say something, but his brother saved him from what would probably have been a very snappy response.

"Squish, calm down," Terri pleaded, clearly exasperated himself. "They're worrying about decontamination and legal consequences right now, there's probably no time to call home."

"That, and the CDA probably won't let them," Terry added.

"At least they're alive!" Art chimed in. He had run on ahead and climbed up to a tree branch from which he was dangling now, smiling brightly. "Isn't that great? They're alive! I thought Mike was trying to kill himself!"

"Oh, come off it, Arthur!" Don added his two cents from somewhere behind the twins' back. "Mike is a bright fellow, he knows better than to do that to himself."

Terry agreed. Mike had probably known fully well what he had been getting himself into, but it was a lot more likely that he had been trying to prove himself scary, if only to himself.

"...he might have meant to," Squishy whispered. "If James hadn't gone after him..."

They all halted at the remark.

Terry was not sure how to feel about Sulley right now. Sure, he had gone after Mike and essentially saved his life. But then, Mike's life would not have _needed_ saving if it had not been for what Sulley had done.

Personally, he could understand why Mike had freaked out as badly as he had. Sulley had betrayed him; there was no other way of putting it. He had told him that he believed in him, that he trusted him to win the competition for them... and then revealed that he had not meant a word of it, that it was all a plot to get himself back into the Scaring Program. In a way, Sulley had done exactly what the partygoers had done – building up the positive feelings, only to crush them later. Except that from a friend, the blow had been all the more devastating.

Terry closed his eye and massaged his temple with his upper hand. No, he was not being fair here. Sulley had not meant for Mike to know, had meant for _him_ to get back into the program as well, for all of them. That did not make it any better, but at least less cruel. It was just that after everything Mike had done for them, everything he meant to them, it had been near unbearable to see the hurt on his face.

"Terry, are you listening?"

He turned his head to face his brother. "Obviously not. What is it?"

"You're going in the wrong direction!" Terri informed him, chuckling despite the heavy atmosphere hanging over the group. "Hardscrabble's office is that way!"

He turned his head further and discovered that the other three were waiting for them further ahead on the path, while he had steered himself and his brother away onto the grass.

He shook his head, readjusting their course and forcing Terri along. "Sorry, I'm just distracted."

Terri smiled at him sadly. "Mike?" he guessed.

"Sulley," he shot back glumly.

Terri did not respond. Knowing his little brother, he had probably figured out what he had been thinking. "He didn't mean for this to happen," he finally offered.

"That doesn't make it better!" Terry snapped at him, as well as at the others who were still rooted to the spot and listening in silence. "It must have been _obvious_ to him that Mike wouldn't take this well – or _we_ would, for that matter, though that's not the point. And he really didn't think he could keep this a secret, right? _Someone_ would have found out. And they would have blamed _Mike_!"

Squishy's eyes widened in terror at the mere idea, and Terry silently cursed himself for speaking before thinking, again. He knew how easy it was to upset their youngest.

"Maybe we should report it," Don suggested quietly. "I would not feel right selling out James, but..."

"We can't!" Terri wailed. "They're gonna punish him!"

"I'm not sure I care," Terry mumbled bitterly.

"C'mon, you don't mean that!" Art admonished him. And he was probably right about it. "As long as no one finds the damage, Mike is gonna be fine. Sulley, too!"

Terry sighed. "We shouldn't kid ourselves, Art! There's no way this is gonna stay a secret. What was he gonna do, go back there in the morning and _repair_ the simulator? Hardly. They're gonna find out, and they're gonna blame Mike, nullify our victory, and punish us all as a group." Oh, wait. Yes, they would. "Hate to say it, guys, but we shouldn't be getting our hopes up about that Scaring Program. It wasn't a victory to begin with."

"Mike was so happy to hold that trophy," Squishy whispered, tearing up. Terry shot him a glance, knowing very well that Mike had not been the only one.

"You think they're gonna go that far?" Terri asked, staring at him with a wide eye.

Terry sighed. They had all been so preoccupied with Mike's breakdown and his and Sulley's ensuing trip to the human world that none of them had stopped to think about the consequences for the group as a whole. "Terri, you do remember where we're going, right? Why _do_ you think Hardscrabble summoned us to her office? She's either gonna dress us down for hindering yesterday's rescue operation or she _knows_. Can't say I'm looking forward to either possibility."

"Speaking of which, we should get going," Don reminded them all, but no one seemed especially thrilled to lead the way.

"Oozma Kappa!"

Terry blinked in surprise at being called out to. Almost simultaneously, they turned their heads to watch none other than one Johnny Worthington III walking up to them across the grass. He was quickly coming closer and, oddly enough, he was holding the very trophy they had just been talking about.

The twins stood closest to him. Instinctively, Terry took a few steps back, trying to get Terri out of the line of fire. But Worthington did not look hostile. He stopped a few paces in front of them and carefully placed the trophy down on the grass. "I happened to come into possession of this," he declared, looking at them without malice. "You should take better care of your belongings."

Terry sighed. Oh, perfect, could he not have kept that thing? Thrown it into the river or something? He glanced behind themselves to see that, sure enough, Squishy had a look of longing on his face.

But none of them made any move to accept it. This did not belong to them.

"Take it," he finally told the ROR president. "We don't deserve it."

Worthington crossed his arms. "Pardon me for disagreeing."

Terry felt anger welling up inside of him. What was that guy playing at? "Look, idiot, you seem to be out of the loop here, but there were unfair methods involved. We didn't win this fair and square." He bit his lip. "We shouldn't have won this."

Terri was staring at him. The others probably were, too. But his tongue had been faster than his brain, again, and now the truth was out.

"C'mon, guys, we need to get going." He turned their body around, forcing his brother to follow.

They only made it a few steps before Worthington called after them again.

"Oozma Kappa, I am disappointed. You are the very last people I expected to lose faith in their leader."

This time, Terry felt himself being dragged along as Terri whirled around, a look of fury on his face.

"How _dare_ you?!" he hissed, venom in his voice. "Mike is the most incredible person we have ever met!"

There were murmurs of agreement from behind them, but Worthington raised a brow at the smaller twin, making it obvious that he disagreed.

Terry quickly gripped his brother's shoulder to stop him before he said something he would regret later – oh, the irony! – and then proceeded to glare at Worthington himself. "You don't know anything about him, or about us! And Mike didn't have anything to do with this anyway!"

Worthington nodded. "Which is precisely why I cannot for the life of me figure out your reaction."

That gave him pause. Somehow, it sounded as if their conversation partner knew a lot more than he was letting on.

He exchanged a confused glance with his brother before turning back and frowning. "...you're gonna have to explain that."

The ghost of a smile appeared on Worthington's face. He seemed satisfied that he had finally gotten their full attention. "Yes, Sulley cheated. I know that. I overheard him confessing it to Hardscrabble."

"He did _what_?"

The incredulous whisper came from Squishy. He was tearing up again, but this time, he seemed relieved. They _all_ looked relieved, Terry observed with another backwards glance. He himself felt most of the tension leave him, too. This was exactly what they had needed – proof that Sulley _did_ care, that he had tried to right what he had messed up, before it affected any of his friends. That, paired with the already established fact that he had gone after Mike without a shred of hesitation, that he had placed himself in danger for one of them, was clear indication that they had not misjudged him. He really was their brother through and through.

Worthington seemed to give them a moment to let it sink in before going on with the explanation. "I know that," he repeated. "But that doesn't have anything to do with the little killer's performance. We know he was at least good enough to convince the entire school that he'd just performed a record breaking scare. He was good enough for that, and that's good enough for me."

Coming from Worthington, that was a major concession. The entire school knew how little he thought of Mike. But if they wanted to be fair...

Terry averted his gaze and sighed again. Bad day. He was doing that a lot today. "...well, we don't know if he truly would have won us the competition," he admitted, even though it felt wrong to be talking about Mike that way.

"My point exactly," Worthington agreed, causing Terry to look up at him again in shock. Wait, _what_?

"We just don't _know_ what his score would have been," Worthington elaborated. "I was convinced it was correct, as was everyone else." He paused for a moment. "Actually, rumour has it that he was the one who blew up the door lab last night, not Sulley. That must have happened _somehow_. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was true. I saw him on the screen. I couldn't believe my eyes. And that is precisely what I told Hardscrabble this morning. She agrees that this", he indicated the trophy, "should rest with you until next year. We have no basis for saying he couldn't have done it, so what right do we have to take this from you?"

Wait a second, that was _true_. They could not be sure, of course, but if it came down to it, it was simply about whether or not they believed what they had seen last night. About whether or not they trusted Mike. And Terry, at least, was damn sure that he did.

But why it was Worthington who made them realise this was beyond him. He turned around, again, to shoot the others a glance. After everything that had happened last night, and especially after what had happened at the party, he was not surprised that all of his brothers reacted to the little speech in the same way.

Confused.

So he turned back around and narrowed his eye in suspicion. "Why are you being so nice to us?"

"I am not being nice," the ROR president immediately objected. "I still don't like you, nor do I respect you. I'm just not a sore loser. And as I was convinced the final score was genuine, it certainly _feels_ like losing."

There was a pause in which neither of them knew what to say, before Worthington indicated the trophy yet again. "Take this to your home, and put it on display like it deserves. If anyone asks _me_, I'll be telling them that this is rightfully yours. And we're certainly taking it from you next year."

And with a nod, he turned around and went back the way he had come.

Terry heard Art walk up to them until he was standing next to Terri. "Well, what do you know," he mused out loud, watching Worthington go.

Terri reached out a hand for the trophy, but did not dare touch it.

Terry cracked a smile at the gesture, then propelled them forward to pick it up himself. He felt its oddly comforting weight for a moment before turning around and holding it out to Squishy. "You wanna hold on to this?"

Squishy's eyes practically lit up. Without a word, he crossed the short distance to the twins and accepted what was offered, gently cradling the trophy to himself.

Terry smiled at him warmly. One problem taken care of, only so many more to go. Then again, a lot of what Worthington had said had sounded way less scary than they had believed it to be.

Don broke the silence. "Should we get going? If I heard that correctly, then good, old Hardscrabble might not be too furious with us after all."

"She will be if we're late," Art piped up.

Terry nodded. "Yes, let's get going. Maybe this won't take too long." He offered another smile to his brothers. "And maybe once we get back, Mike and Sulley will already be home."

He could not wait to see them alive and well.

Both of them.


End file.
